Bad Odds Pushed Hartigan Out Of Race

In the end, Neil Hartigan decided the race simply wasn`t worth the risk.

For nearly three years the Illinois attorney general had been widely viewed as the inevitable 1986 Democratic nominee to face Republican Gov. James Thompson.

But three months ago Hartigan was abruptly transformed into an underdog for the Democratic nomination when former U.S. Sen. Adlai Stevenson, who narrowly lost to Thompson in 1982, said he wanted another try.

Some of Hartigan`s political associates predicted then that he lacked the nerve to remain in a contest with Stevenson and would soon abandon his candidacy for governor.

Hartigan, though, declared his candidacy officially in September and came out swinging at Stevenson. On the morning of Hartigan`s announcement, two opinion polls indicated that he was trailing Stevenson by a wide margin.

``It`s tough to run against a candidate with better name recognition,``

Hartigan observed recently, ``and Adlai was born with 100 percent name recognition.``

To make himself better known, the tall, red-haired Hartigan aired television commercials last month about his personal and political background, noting that Stevenson had recruited him to run for attorney general in 1982. But the television spots weren`t enough for Hartigan to overcome Stevenson`s edge, and on Monday Hartigan withdrew.

Though Hartigan, a former lieutenant governor, deputy mayor of Chicago and Democratic ward committeeman, has been involved in Democratic politics for more than 20 years, his campaign for governor marked his first real appearance in the public spotlight. Hartigan, by his own admission, was inexperienced in responding to ticklish political questions.

As a result, he frequently appeared indecisive and fuzzy on the issues. In campaign strategy sessions, he left little doubt about his views on abortion and affirmative action. But on television, he sidestepped the questions. Perhaps Hartigan`s most damaging flip-flop was his recent reversal on the state`s mandatory seat-belt law of which he originally had been a leading sponsor.

But it also was vintage Hartigan. Throughout his public career, Hartigan had built a reputation as a profile in caution, an ambitious man who doesn`t like to take chances or make unnecessary enemies.

Ten years ago Hartigan`s polls showed him leading former Gov. Dan Walker in the Democratic primary for governor. But Hartigan passed up the race when his political mentor, Mayor Richard J. Daley, told him that it wasn`t Hartigan`s year.

Four years ago Hartigan wanted to run for governor but deferred to Stevenson. Hartigan also passed up opportunities to run for the U.S. Senate in 1978 when he had been the choice of party leaders to oppose Sen. Charles Percy (R., Ill.) and in 1980 when Stevenson chose not to seek re-election.

Partly because of his earlier false starts, Hartigan had insisted to friends that he was in the 1986 governor`s race to stay. With remarkable success, he spent months gaining the commitments of all but a few of the state`s 102 county Democratic chairmen. Hartigan also had locked up the endorsement of the Illinois Democratic Central Committee.

Such potential Democratic hopefuls for governor as Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, state Senate President Philip Rock and State Comptroller Roland Burris decided not to run against Hartigan when early polls showed him far out in front.

Hartigan, though, continued to worry about a possible primary challenger. When Patrick Quinn, a commissioner on the Cook County Board of (tax) Appeals and a populist reformer, threatened last summer to run against Hartigan for governor, the attorney general looked stricken.

Hartigan`s critics sensed his vulnerability after he sought a meeting with the lesser-known Quinn and tried to persuade him to drop out of the race. Almost nobody gave Quinn a chance.

Stevenson had indicated to friends last summer that he probably would not run for governor and planned to support Hartigan. But, according to Democratic sources, Hartigan made little effort to involve Stevenson in his campaign. A friend of both candidates suggested Monday that Hartigan might have ended the threat of a Stevenson candidacy by naming him as campaign chairman and by regularly seeking his advice.

The former senator changed his mind when Hartigan`s candidacy failed to catch fire. Mayor Harold Washington encouraged Stevenson to run because Hartigan had the backing of the mayor`s archrival, Ald. Edward Vrdolyak

(10th), chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party.

Madigan also urged Stevenson to run against Hartigan, a longtime rival of the speaker`s.

With the private support of the two powerful Chicago Democrats, Stevenson made his candidacy official.

Jolted by Stevenson`s decision to fight him, Hartigan tried for more than three months to hold his ground. He performed effectively in a televised debate with Stevenson last month, demonstrating that he could give as well as take.